Madura Named to Inaugural Endowed Chair at Duquesne

September 19, 2013

Dr. Jeffry D. Madura, a professor in the chemistry and biochemistry department of the Bayer School of Natural and Environmental Sciences, has been selected as Duquesne's inaugural Lambert F. Minucci Endowed Chair in Engineering and Computational Sciences. He will serve a five-year appointment.

Madura, former chair of the chemistry department and a member of Duquesne's Research Hall of Fame, has received more than $10 million in external research funding in his career at Duquesne. He delves into computational chemistry and biophysics models, designing molecules that will physically and chemically fit where they are needed to interrupt signals for pain and other conditions associated with addiction, Parkinson's and Huntingdon's diseases

Elected as an American Chemical Society Fellow in 2011, Madura received the Bayer School and the Duquesne Presidential Award for Excellence in Scholarship in 2007 and the Bayer School Award for Excellence in Service in 2004. He also received the 1997-1998 Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award. With more than 100 papers published in physical chemistry and chemical physics, Madura authors the text General Chemistry: Principles and Modern Applications.

Madura joined Duquesne in 1998, coming from the University of South Alabama, his first teaching position, and a postdoctoral fellowship in computational biophysics at the University of Houston. He earned his Ph.D. in physical chemistry from Purdue University and his bachelor's degree from Thiel College.

The late Minucci, a grandson of an Italian immigrant, made his career at PPG. A chemical engineer, Minucci received his undergraduate degree from Carnegie Tech after returning from the Army, and earned his master's in mathematics in 1970 at Duquesne after finding that he increasingly used computations and formulas in his work. The company still uses the forecast models for paint production that Minucci created, and Minucci generated his own risk analysis to guide his investments.

While Minucci has made many contributions to Duquesne over the years, the Minucci Chair was established through a $2 million endowment.

Duquesne University

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